Snowboarding is an increasingly popular sport in which snowboarders tend to hold their hands out for balance and on steep terrain to use their hands to judge distance from the uphill slope. Further, in the event of a fall, snowboarders instinctively, but dangerously, tend to extend their arms in an effort to break their fall with their palms open. As their hands contact the snow, the heel of the hand first breaks the surface causing the fingers and palm to be forced backward resulting in injury from reverse extension of the wrist and fingers, as well as from stretching muscles in the lower forearm.
In an attempt to reduce wrist injuries, snowboard gloves have incorporated support plates, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,537,692, to restrict movement of the wrist and prevent reverse extension. This approach addressed one of the recognized injury hazards by supporting the snowboarder's wrist, but left the fingers unprotected and exposed to potentially greater injury from more concentrated forces. In the event of a fall, the heel of the extended snowboarder's hand would still contact the surface of the snow first. The support plates within the glove, however, would brace the wrist preventing it from bending backward, leaving only the unsupported fingers to absorb the force subjecting them to even worse injury.